Private Business Coaching for Therapists

What makes you qualified to coach people in private practice, Meg?

I like it—let’s get straight to the point.

First of all, I am an independently licensed mental health provider in the state of Indiana with my own private practice, and I’ve worked in a number of settings through grad school and post-grad, namely:

• a co-occurring disorders clinic

• a PHP/IOP setting

• intensive in-home therapy for families, with two different non-profit organizations

• in a group practice earning $30/ session pre-tax, prior to getting my license

• at a another group practice earning a bit more, after getting my license

• in my own 100% telehealth private practice seeing self-pay only clients, starting at $80 per session (which I felt super greedy for) and rising eventually to $180 per session

I also have about 10 years of pre-therapy professional experience in the marketing, content creation, and tech worlds, which puts me a unique and incredibly helpful intersection of personal and professional experiences that have lent themselves well to my success in this field.

In my first year of private practice, my business grossed $131k through a combination of self-pay clients, insurance-based clients, and freelance content creation work. $123k of that represents therapy income alone.

During that first year, I was a cohort member of a year-long business coaching group focused on liberatory business practices, mindset work, and practitioner-first policies. I also ran (and still run) a popular Instagram presence @antiworktherapist and spent the better part of both 2021 and 2022 having highly rewarding conversations with other badass therapists about the mental health industry, burnout, and reviving our love for mental health on my burnout-themed podcast, Mental Status.

I’ll admit, I dug my heels in at various points during the first year of practice, and was a downright bump on a log for a good few months while I went through the first-year roller-coaster ride of emotions, but the experience left me well-equipped to change my business in radical ways I once thought impossible. This includes gradually raising fees to the level that would sustain me and my best work, sharpening my marketing skills, getting clear on my identity inside and outside of work, and implementing policies that would help me keep my business sustainable in the long-run.

This experience—while grueling at times—was also the culmination of years and years and YEARS of dreaming, hard work, and dedication, which is something that the vast majority of us in the field have in common. I knew I was angry at the way things had gone for me (some of it my own doing, some of it not), and once I finally found a way to make it actually work for me, I wanted to bring what I’d learned to a coaching space where I could help other therapists avoid some of the mental, emotional, and logistical pitfalls I found myself falling into with alarming frequency.

I’m a wellness coach, not a therapist. Can I still work with you?

Yep! Some of our focus areas will be different, of course, but there are many ways in which the two disciplines intersect and run parallel to each other. I’ve worked with folks who are only therapists, only coaches, and folks who are both therapists & coaches in separate business. The work we do together will be customized to fit your specific business needs.

What if I don’t even have a business name picked out yet?

It’s cool. We’ll start where you are. The nice thing about a coaching relationship is that we can jump into our work together regardless of your starting point.

I’ve worked with folks who have been in private practice for a year or more who are looking to level-up their game; I’ve also shared space with folks who are still at their community mental health jobs just dying to get out, but overwhelmed by all of the little steps they need to take to get there.

The most important part is that you’re invested in doing the work, and that you’re open to the idea that we don’t have to have it all figured out before we can begin.

What days and times do you work?

I hold video sessions with my coaching clients on Thursdays between 10am and 4pm EST. I also have limited Sunday time slots in the mid-morning. My business week runs Weds-Sun and I am largely offline from midday Sunday through Wednesday mornings.

Where are you located, and will I need to come into an office?

I am 100% virtual in my coaching business. I don’t have a physical office where we’ll meet. Instead, we will meet over either Zoom or Google Meet video platforms.

How much does it cost to work with you as a therapist business coach?

I’ve got a variety of price points, based on your level of interest, need, financial capacity, and time:

Contracts

6- or 12-month Contract: $500 per month

This is, by and large, the best bang for your buck if you’re looking for personalized, one-on-one business coaching services for your private practice. Each contract comes with the following:

• Twice per month individual private practice coaching calls at 50 minutes each, at a schedule agreed upon between you and me.

• Continuous asynchronous access to text- or voice-memo-based coaching for the duration of your contract, via one of the following services: Whatsapp, Marco Polo, or Facetime. Questions and inquiries through these channels are answered within 3-5 business days. 

• An individualized content audit for your practice website, with specific recommendations for form, flow, content, messaging, tone, and overall content quality, delivered via private Loom video recording.

This option is ideal for therapists who are starting fresh and need guidance during the first several months running their new business, or who are looking to up-level their existing private practice in some big ways and are looking for intensive, individualized support from someone who is as invested in their business as they are.

Contracts are open on a rolling basis and are offered in 6- or 12-month formats only.

Singles & Bundles

Single-Focus Sessions: $300 per call

This is one, 50-minute call where we focus in on a specific problem or goal. This is best for folks who don’t have tons of concerns or areas that they need help with, but rather, one particular topic they’d like to cover in a time-limited, intensive setting.

Four-Session Bundle: $1,140 total

This bundle consists of four, 50-minute calls where we focus in on one or two specific areas that you need more in-depth time and space to think through, plan around, or get support with. This can be anything from identifying a niche and determining ways to create website or directory content for that niche, developing doable marketing strategies for your practice, establishing practitioner-first policies that protect your energy and wellness, exploring money mindset and fears or hesitations related to self-pay fees and fee raises, and more.

Additionally, clients who purchase a four- or eight-bundle session also receive one website or directory listing audit, with specific recommendations for form, flow, content, messaging, tone, and overall content quality, delivered via private Loom video recording.

Eight-Session Bundle: $2,160 total

This bundle consists of eight, 50-minute calls where we focus in on one or more specific areas that you need more time and space to think through, plan around, or get support with. Eight sessions provide us with the ability to go as deep or as wide as you need on any particular topic. Similar to the four-session bundle, this can be anything from finding your niche and content creation for that niche area, clarifying your marketing strategies, deepening your understanding of your money mindset and how it intersects with or runs parallel to your values as a therapist, and more.

Additionally, clients who purchase a four- or eight-bundle session also receive one website or directory listing audit, with specific recommendations for form, flow, content, messaging, tone, and overall content quality, delivered via private Loom video recording.

How do I know working with you will be worth the investment?

Okay, so. You don’t. Right? Neither of us can predict what will happen. Some of this comes down to things that are largely outside of our control—things like acts of God, illness or injury, legislative changes that impact our jobs, catastrophes, or the decisions that our clients make of their own free will about their therapy services.

However, there are a lot of things that are within our control and our willingness to face them head-on. This includes the amount of honesty and transparency we bring to the space, our willingness to be uncomfortable or stretch to our edges, our ability to be wrong with grace, and the amount of committed action that happens between our calls.

To that end, I’ve got some guiding principles that can help inform our work together, that can have a huge impact (positive or negative) on the success you enjoy through this coaching process:

• We approach this work together with the ideal of making it simple, making it easy, and making it fun, knowing that there is internal and external work we can do to achieve these ideals.

• I encourage you to ask for what you want, take responsibility for your actions, and enlist the help of others when you are unable (or unwilling, or scared) to take the next right action in your business.

• I encourage you to take action—and if you can’t (or won’t) take action, we agree to do what we can to figure out what’s standing in the way. This does not equate to hustling because it’s what you’ve always known, or doing lots of things simply for the sake of doing lots of things. It means that we put what we are learning into practice in our businesses and lives, and when things aren’t working for you, we talk about it and find a way through—together.

• We acknowledge and accept the reality that we’re working within, and make decisions based on the current reality rather than what we think “should” be happening.

Additionally, I’ve got some guiding principles for engagement in private coaching for therapists with me:

• I, your coach, will agree to show up with consistency and integrity to scheduled calls, and I ask you to do the same—and if we need to reschedule a call, I ask that we both agree to do so proactively. This means giving at minimum 48 hours’ notice to the other in the case that we need to reschedule, whenever possible. Please know that rescheduled calls will be offered at the next available time slot and that I cannot guarantee your preferred days or times for reschedules.

• I will encourage you to make full use of the synchronous (private call) and asynchronous (Whatsapp/Marco Polo/Voice memo) coaching services that are at your disposal during the coaching process. I am here to be of service to you and want you to get as much as you can from this process, so please, ask questions, pick my brain, whatever you need! I will provide answers and feedback as I am able.

• I will encourage you to advocate for what you need in the coaching process—if I am leading us down a path that you don’t want to go down, or if you’re feeling stuck and want to move onto a new topic, I ask that you let me know and help redirect us back toward the path and the goals you’re pursuing.

• Please know that, while I am able to provide suggestions and feedback on your overall business structure, niche, marketing practices, policies, fee structure, and more, it will be imperative that you engage with professionals whose scope of service encompasses anything outside of my scope as your business coach, which includes (but isn’t limited to):

• Legal questions related to your business, your particular license, or your area of therapeutic practice (contact a lawyer or your liability insurance provider)

• Ethical questions related to your particular license or area of therapeutic practice (contact your board or any professional associations you’re part of)

• Tax, financial, or tax liability questions in your state/provide/country (contact a tax professional or financial advisor)

• Legal business structure questions (LLC vs. PLLC vs S-Corp, etc) (contact a small business advocate or organization that serves small businesses in your area)

• Clinical or therapy client-related questions (contact a clinical supervisor or a clinical consultation group in your area)

What happens when I sign on as a coaching client?

First of all, I hope you’ll celebrate yourself for taking a big step toward making some radical changes in your life. Seriously—starting a coaching relationship can be the beginning of some really great things, so I hope you take time to enjoy it.

As far as processes go, a few things will happen when you decide you want to work with me:

• Contracts: I’ll email you some coaching contracts to sign via Eversign, a digital signing platform. This establishes our relationship as coaching and professional in nature, and outlines services, expectations, limitations, etc.

• Billing: If you’ve paid in full for a single session or bundle, there is no further action you need to take. If you’re signing up for monthly coaching, I will provide you with a link to set up your 6- or 12-month subscription payments. These payments will be automatically processed, and if you need to change your card for any reason, you can just let me know and I will re-send the link.

• Scheduling: For folks who purchase a single-focus or bundle of sessions, you’ll have the option to schedule our first call when you book. If you’ve signed up for a contract, I will send a private booking link via Calendly once I’ve received your signed contract and first payment. You can use that link to book session-by-session, or you can book the full set of 12 or 24 sessions all at once if you know the days and times you’d like to have reserved.

• First call: If you had a free consultation session with me already, we’ll use this first call to elaborate on your goals and prioritize your starting point. For most clients who have purchased a bundle or contract, we find ourselves digging right in during this first call, and I typically aim to close this call with a set of one or two action steps that you feel committed to taking between calls. I make it a point to take notes via Google Docs during our calls, and will share those notes with you after our call.

• Subsequent calls: For those who have purchased a bundle or contract, subsequent calls will include review of progress or barriers between calls, strategizing plans, mindset work, and anything that organically arises from our conversations. If applicable, we’ll discuss any action steps for you to take between calls.